Judge strikes down Arkansas law prohibiting gender transition care for minors

A federal judge in Arkansas on Tuesday struck down a state law that prohibits medical treatment for children and teens seeking gender reassignment surgery.

The case was closely watched as a major test of whether the bans on transitional care for minors, which have since been enacted by more than a dozen states, could withstand legal challenges from civil liberties activists and groups.

In his 80-page ruling, Judge James M. Moody Jr. said. of the Federal District Court in Little Rock that the law both discriminates against transgender people and violates the constitutional rights of doctors. He also said the state of Arkansas failed to substantiate some of its claims, including that the care was experimental or carelessly prescribed to teens.

“Rather than protecting children or safeguarding medical ethics, the evidence showed that the banned medical care improves the mental health and well-being of patients and that by banning it, the state undermines the interests it claims to promote” , Judge Moody wrote.

“Further,” he wrote, “the various claims underlying the state’s arguments that the law protects children and safeguards medical ethics do not explain why only gender-affirming medical care—and all gender-affirming medical care—is singled out for a ban.”

The challenge to the law, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas, naming several transgender children and a physician as plaintiffs, argued that the ban violated transgender people’s constitutional right to equal protection, the right to parents to make appropriate medical decisions for their children and the right of physicians to refer patients for medical treatment.

The decision was hailed as a major victory for the LGBTQ community and provided a dose of reassurance for transgender youth in Arkansas, who had been concerned for nearly two years about losing access to puberty blockers and hormones.

The decision only applies to Arkansas law, which Judge Moody temporarily blocked just days before it was due to take effect in July 2021.

Emily Cochrane reporting contributed.